Subject: re: high altitude gardening

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 9 Feb 1994 18:19:42 GMT

re: High Altitude Gardening

4,000 is not that high--considering I live in Colorado at 5,000 and that
is a lower altitude here--Anyway

Things to do for gardening:

1.  **Very Important** check with the local county extension agent.  They
will definitely have some very good tips on gardening in the local area.
They will probably have some very good recipes too.

2.  Subscribe to Organic Gardening or National Gardening or any other 
really good gardening magazine.  They always have good tips about high
altitude stuff.

3.  When you order your seeds, make sure that the descriptions include your
zone.  This helps not getting seeds or shrubs or trees that are good in the
hot South but will do better in a cool wet clime--like where you will be

4.  Keep in mind that it may not be the altitude that will give you problems,
but the longtitude and latitude, the humidity and the number of cloudless
days--also the last frost date and the first frost date (again, see county
extension agent).  To give you an example, here in Pueblo, while at about 5,000
feet, our last frost date is May 15 and first frost date is Sept 15.  That 
give us roughly four months of gardening.  However, we also average over
250 cloudless days--nice sunshine--and can begin planting things such as
peas, fava beans, lettuce, spinach etc. as soon as the ground can be worked-
usually late February to early March.  And, we have even planted green beans
as late as August and kept tomato plants going--without coverings--until
November.  Some of the things that overwinter easily are endive, onion, leeks,
carrots, beets, trenched celery

Hope some of this helps.

Diane M. Ferrell